Tube for packaging doors and the like



Aug. 7, 1956' H. M. WA 2,757,854

TUBE FOR PACKAGING DOORS AND THE LIKE Filed Feb. 9, 1953 8 MAM TTUFA/DZ United States Patent Oflice TUBE FOR PACKAGING DOOR'S AND THE LIKE Howard M. Wall, Portland, Oreg.

Application February 9, 1953, Serial No. 335,918

'2 Claims. (Cl. 229-43) This invention relates to a novel and improved package made of paper or like material for encasing and protecting flat, rigid articles such as doors, plywood, wallboard and the like against damage during shipment.

Doors, plywood, wallboard, and the like goods usually are packaged for shipment to insure delivery of the packaged articles without damage to the faces of the goods or to their edges, ends, and corners. In the handling and shipping of doors, for example, they are often handled in a vertical position while resting on one edge or end and much damage is likely to occur from sliding on the floor or from surface engagement with other doors in the stack. When handled by lift-truck, the lifting frame of the truck frequently engages the side edges or ends of the doors, and unless such edges or ends are adequately covered, damaging indentations and fractures of the grain will result. The present invention is intended to provide a package for articles which will provide protection for the edges and ends of the articles against ordinary contacts while handling, and yet be economical in production and light in weight to minimize shipping costs.

In general, the tube or package is formed from a pair of blanks made from sheet material such as a heavy grade paper. The blanks, when assembled in readiness to receive articles to be packaged, form a substantially flat package and when the articles are packaged therein each of the blanks is creased by the article to form a face panel, a side wall portion extending at right angles to the face panel, and inturned flange portions eXInding parallel to the face panel, said blanks, when thus creased and folded, being substantially Q-shaped. The blanks when assembled are in inverted position relative to each other, thereby forming a tube having the edge portions of its face panels and its side walls formed of a double thickness of paper and the remaining panel portions of a single thickness of paper, the ends of the tube being open to receive the article or articles to be packaged. The packaged article may be tied with twine or a suitable adhesive applied between certain of the overlapping portions of the two blanks to secure the blanks together and provide a tube open only at its ends. The blanks are cut to a length greater than the length of the articles to be packaged so that portions of the blanks extending beyond the ends of the article can be folded into end flaps for closing the ends of the tube to provide protection for the ends of the article.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved tube or package having means for encasing and protecting flat, rigid articles such as doors, plywood, walboard, and the like, with emphasis on protection for the edges, ends, and corners of such articles.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved tube or package effective for the protection of the faces, and particularly effective for the protection of the edges, ends, and corners, of flat articles, and which achieves these objects with simplicity of construction and an economical use of material.

Pat nted Aug. 7, 1. 5

It is still another object to provide a tube or package formed from a pair of blanks having certain overlapped portions adhesively secured together and certain overlapped portions unsecured and free to slide relative to each other to prevent buckling of the inner layer of the overlapped portions of the blanks, when the double thickness portions are bent around corners of the articles inserted in the tube.

Another object is to provide a tube having open ends for receiving articles to be packaged, and which generally is of greater length than the packaged article for clos-v ing the tube and providing protection for the ends of said articles.

The invention will be better understood and additional objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred form of the device. It is to be understood, however, that the invention may take other forms and that all modifications and variations within the scope of the appended claims which will occur to persons skilled in the art are included in the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the tube of the present invention showing articles of rectangular cross section partly inserted therein;

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view of a portion of the tube in fiat, folded condition, taken on the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view of the. tube taken on the line 33 of Figure 1 showing the inter? fitting relation of the blanks when the tube is tightly fitted around the articles to be packaged, said articles being omitted in this view; and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a completed package showing one end of the tube folded over the ends of packaged plywood, a portion .of the tube being broken away.

Referring to the drawings, the tube of the present invention is formed from a pair of blanks of flat sheet material, such as paper, designated generally by the numerals 10 and 11, and adapted to receive articles A, Figures 1 and 4, which may comprise a single article, such as a door, or, as shown, a plurality of articles such as sheets of plywood or wallboard.

The blanks are similar and complemental to each other and, as best shown in Figure 2, have edge flap portions 12 and I3 folded back on fold lines 8 and 9 resp tive y- To m y the t e, t e l n udinally folded blank 11 is fitted inside the similarly folded blank 10 in inverted relation thereto as shown. The two blanks are secured together by a suitable adhesive 14 which is Preferably l m to ed e po ions of he unde nea sides of the flaps 12 for reasons which will presently appear. As thus constructed, the tube comprises a flattened paper tube open at both ends and having a width to fit snugly around the articles it is intended to receive.

The packaging operation is carried out by holding one end of the tube open to receive one end of the article or articles A. As the articles are pushed into the Hattened tube, the creases 8 and 9 are flattened out and new corner creases or fold lines 15 and 16 are formed by the advancing corners on the leading end of the rectangular article or bundle. This operation is shown in Figure 1. As the article A advances into the flattened tube, the width of the tube decreases by reason of the increase in thickness, and the snug fit of the article tensions the tube transversely and causes the four new corners 15, 15, 16, 16 to appear as the original fold lines 8 disappear.

Thus, after insertion of the article A, the blank 10 may be said to comprise a broad, flat panel 20 underlying the article and two vertical edge wall portions 21 interposed between opposite sides of the panel 20 and flange portions 12a of the original flaps 12. Original folds 8, which have now been flattened out by hoop tension, extend longitudinally down the middle of each wall portion 21. The blank 11 comprises a broad, flat panel 23 overlying the article and two vertical edge wall portions 24 interposed between opposite sides of panel 23 and flange portions 13a of the original flaps 13. Original folds 9, which are now flattened out, extend longitudinally down the middle of wall portions 24. The flange and edge wall portions just described form a double thickness of material to protect the corners and edges of the article.

Because of the thickness of the material of the blanks and 11, the formation of the corner folds 15 and 16 by the advancing corners of the article as the article is being inserted into the tube, produces some relative slippage between the two layers of material in transverse, or circumferential, direction. In view of this condition, to avoid buckling of the material of the inner blank 11, adhesive preferably is not applied between the edge wall portions 21 and 24, nor between the flanges 13a and panel 20, the flaps 13 being loosely disposed within the outer blank 10. By restricting the adhesive 14 to the flanges 12a, in Figures 1 and 3, the two layers of material are free to slip circumferentially around the corners 15 and 16 to produce a neat package with flat surfaces and without any buckling of the material which would otherwise seriously interfere with ,the insertion of the article into the flattened tube. As a result of such circumferential slippage, the wall portions 24 and flanges 13a of the inner blank 11 dispose themselves flatly against the article in adjusted position relative to the blank 10 in Figures 1 and 3.

To permit such slippage the adhesive 14 is not applied to the whole width of each flap 12 in Figure 2, but is restricted to that part of the flap between the edge of the blank and the position of the ultimate fold line 15 which is to form the flange portion 12a overlying panel 23 of blank 11. The spaces between the unglued, overlapping portions of the two blanks are exaggerated in Figures 1, 2, and 3 to emphasize the absence of adhesive around the lateral corners of the tube. It is to be understood, of course, that the overlapping portions of the outer blank 10 lie snugly against the surfaces of the inner blank 11.

After the articles have been inserted in the tube, extending end portions of the tube are folded either by hand or by machine to form end flaps 27 and 28 on each end as seen in Figure 4. The end flaps 27 and 28 of the tube overlap and may be coated with a suitable adhesive to seal the ends of the tube and to provide a plural thickness of paper to protect the ends of articles carried therein. 7

Having now described my invention and the manner in which the same may be used, what I claim as novel and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. An elongated pre-formed open end tube for receiving square cornered, flat, rigid articles of substantial size and thickness for snug packaging by endwise insertion, comprising outer and inner similar flat folded blanks of sheet material such as paper and the like assembled together with one blank inverted relative to the other blank, each of said blanks comprising a flat central faec panel portion, face flanges extending along the opposite lateral edges of the blank, and an edge wall portion between said face panel and each of said face flanges, said face flanges of the outer blank being secured to the face panel portion of the inner blank and said face flange and edge wall portions of the inner blank being disposed loosely within the outer blank to provide double thickness of material in said edge wall portions having freedom for relative circumferential slippage around the edge corners of an article of the type described advancing into the tube. v

2. An elongated pre-formed tube open at both ends and adapted to receive square cornered flat, rigid articles of substantial size and thickness for snug packaging by endwise insertion, comprising outer and inner separate identical flat-folded blanks of sheet material such as paper and the like assembled together with one blank inverted relative to the other blank, each of said blanks comprising a flat central face panel portion, face flange portions extending along the opposite lateral edges of the blank and an edge wall portion between each of said flange portions and said panel portion, each of said flange portions together with half the adjacent edge wall portion forming a reversely folded flap having a fold line extending longitudinally through the middle of an edge wall portion, said face flange portions of the flaps on the outer blank being adhesively secured to the face panel portion of the inner blank, and said flaps on the inner blank being disposed loosely within the outer blank to provide double thickness of material around the edge wall corners of the tube having freedom for relative circumferential slippage when the flaps of the outer blank are tensioned by the advancing corners of a snugly fitting article.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,105,120 Wordingham July 28, 1914 1,159,736 Berold Nov. 9, 1915 1,333,717 Jackson, Jr. Mar. 16, 1920 1,849,330 Moore Mar. 15, 1932 1,860,965 Stone May 31, 1932 1,926,066 Scholl Sept. 12, 1933 1,941,412 Nichols Dec. 26, 1933 2,116,571 Gurwick May 10, 1938 2,490,058 Jablon Dec. 6, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 333,864 Great Britain Aug. 21, 1930 

